Shane Watson is back, and how!

The Australian all-rounder8217;s story is similar to Pathan8217;s, but with a different and successful climax

Call it intentional, accidental or downright conspiratorial but these days, teams walk into the ring to face cricket8217;s heavyweight champions with their hands tied. Some seem to be saving their sucker punch for the title fight and turn up for the inconsequential round just to lie on the ropes and get accustomed to the Aussie blows while others blame fate.

The indisposition of Shane Bond and Jacob Oram makes New Zealand8217;s depletion accidental. But with Australia getting extra hands after the return of just-healed all-rounder Shane Watson; the mismatch was expected, and considering the bitter rivalry, quite intentional. As Watson added another dimension to the already multi-dimensional Aussie squad, the world champions made a point that there happens to be a sea of difference between the Trans-Tasman neighbours. Australia won by 215 runs, that8217;s 12 more than the margin in the group game against the 8216;casually invited to the World Cup8217; Scotland, who actually survived for 14 more overs than New Zealand.

Winning the grudge match had Ricky Ponting bouncing at the press conference, using his usual 8216;terrifics8217; and 8216;fantastics8217; for his players but the most pleasing thing for him was the return of Watson. The Aussie captain said, 8220;I thought Shane Watson8217;s innings today, in his first game back for a while, was tremendous. He looked good with the ball as well. We are on track and going really well at the moment.8221; Watson, with his 65 from 32 balls he faced in the last 10 overs of the innings and his spell 5-0-20-1, the most economical of the day, deserved his captain8217;s special adjective 8211; 8216;tremendous8217;.

Despite the fact that Australia8217;s closest win in the tournament has been a seven-wicket, 16 balls-to-spare canter of sorts against England, the nit-pickers have said that their Achilles Heel has been the bowling. Before the World Cup, comparing the 8216;03 and 8216;07 Aussie squads, they said that the present team lacks an Andy Bichel, someone who was an economical second-string bowler with a great strike rate and a handy batsman too. When Watson walked off the field mid-way through an over in a game against Bangladesh on April 2 with one hand feeling his strung hamstring and the other wiping his tears, it seemed like double jeopardy for the Aussies.

The muscular man with a robust frame but fragile tissues was once again proving to be a medical mystery as his second straight World Cup seemed to be slipping because of injuries. If it was his back problem four years back, this time it was the hamstring. But the big break before the important game and gradual rehab saw Watson return to the playing XI. When Watson got injured, Aussie team physio Alex Kountoris had said that Watson would be back but he had expressed concern about the frequent injuries to the supremely fit-looking all-rounder.

Watson, in more ways than one, reminds one of the Indian all-rounder, Irfan Pathan. A promising start to the career, injury problems, gradual drop in pace, batting elevation high up the order but subsequent decline in bowling form. Both are/were very important to the balance of the sides as they can float all over the batting order, and at the same time are not rigid about when they bowl. But the refreshing thing about Watson against New Zealand yesterday was the way he handled the pressure.

A failure here would have meant the Aussies shelving the all-rounder plan and going back to the six-batsmen-plus-Andrew-Symonds formula. Despite the hanging axe, Watson was ready to expose all three stumps and chip over fine-leg in the final overs or go for those devil-may-care sixes.

Story continues below this ad

The healing of Watson8217;s injury has been perfect and so has been his form with the bat and ball. After the game against New Zealand, Watson says, 8220;I cannot wait to play the semis8221;. The timing, too, delights Ponting. He knows that when his opponents come back for the next round with untied hands, he would be ready with the few extra helping hands around.